More of my brother's handy work. It's so much easier to see off the deck without that silly, overgrown arborvitae in the way! As you can see, it was also in an obnoxious place at the bottom of the stairs.

Peeps! Some for eating, some for laying.

More peeps! These are Black Jersey Giants. They remind me of pandas when they're little with their coloring, but will turn all black as grown ups. They are slower to mature and will be HUGE chickens, weighing on average as much as a small turkey. These are to be layers for now.

Birthday present for Bad Pants. 🙂

Some of BP's handy work (and a Roxanne) to protect new grill from a certain nutty Aussie (coughCOPPERcough). The gate matches the decorative fanning on the deck. The carabiner clip is to keep Rox and Bear from opening the gate. It's located safely away from anywhere Bear could get his jaw stuck on it.

Hay net frustration and suspicion. Mwhahahahahaha! It took them a good 30 minutes to get over it the first time, 15 the second, and were old pros the third time.

In fact, Sugar had to show the other horses how it was done. Here, she pauses from eating to pose for her photo op.

Rox has a new playmate!

Her very own, wiggly, mini-me! That's right! We adopted a new pup from a kill shelter on Saturday. Lyra (puppy) is a Mastiff/Lab x pup, 4 mo old, very shy and under-socialized, with feet larger than Roxanne's, but very quickly coming out of her shell. She's not up for holding still for photo ops now that she realizes we won't eat her.

Beyond this, we’ve just been working on getting stuff done around here. You know, mowing our 2 acre lawn with a push mower because the riding mower that came with the house is really, actually broken. Rolling hay rounds, fixing things, etc.

That’s all that’s new here. How about with you? What’ve you been up to?

All ponies boarded out here in Georgia are home! This occurred on Saturday, when Casey and Molly arrived from Molly’s previous owner’s place. The moment Casey stepped off the trailer and I took his lead, the last bit of stress and anxiety in my body left. My life is complete with him home, where I can see him every time I look out the window and can touch him often.

With the arrival of the ponies, my point about the builder’s paddock being too small for 4 horses really came home. Bad Pants and I spent several hours on Sunday and Monday expanding it, so now they have the better part of 2 acres to move about on. I am happier and they are happier.

Now that there is more space, the horses seem to be working out the last of their herd dynamic issues and have joined up into a lovely little band. Peace reigns within the herd. No drama. Just happy, munching horses!

I’ve found decent hay for a reasonable price really close to us. In addition, we met a local farmer who will disc the cleared area for us when we’re ready, and who can give us basic advise while we learn about farming in a climate still fairly new to us.

I’ve stacked a lot of hay in the cottage and started some general cleaning of it. In the next few weeks I’ll get a sheet of plywood so Bad Pants can re-side the open side where the cottage caught on fire. While we have plans to move the cottage later, I might as well make it function for my needs now, right? Right! That starts with bird proofing it asap.

Next up, we will begin to prepare for the arrival of a flock of chicks at the end of the month! The peeps will live in the garage where I can monitor them closely for the first few weFeeks. No pets, pests, or critters will be able to harm them there. And, I should be able to hear any distress peeps that come out of them in the middle of the night as the master is right above.

February will see me starting cool crop seeds indoors and really prepping the garden. If it stays mild as it has been, I will likely take the chance to start the garden earlier than our zone would suggest, but will have row covers on hand if necessary.

Later in the spring we will be adding guineas, turkeys and goats to our farm. I want guineas because they’re great at eating ticks and garden bugs while leaving the produce alone. And, well, turkeys are just awesome in general. I’m hoping we’ll be adding at least two dwarf goats (breed undetermined at this time) to our farm with hopes of producing some of our own dairy later on. I’ll have to see what comes available when we’re closer to ready.

The temps here have taken a nosedive over the weekend. We went from highs of 63 degrees on Saturday to 34 on Sunday, 27 yesterday and 33 today.

I decided to blanket the horses. Sorry natural horse people, my ponies just aren’t happy with that sudden decrease in temps. Casey was acting out and as fidgety as I’ve ever seen him. Once I got his blanket on, he settled right down and was back to his calmer self. “Better already”, he said. Unfortunately, his blanket, which is brand new and purchased off the interwebs, is a wee bit small. Both Case and Molly wear the same size. Only, apparently, in this brand, Casey needs a warmblood sized blanket as his belly is hanging out a bit. Molly’s is a perfect fit though!

I’ll be unblanketing them in the morning, when the sun is shining and putting the blankets back on tomorrow evening before dark. I don’t care what the LL says. My ponies, while hairy, definitely appreciated the blanketing. It’s certainly NOT going to make them sick, as he told me when I put a sheet on Molly to keep her clean for pictures. Yeah, I’m sure you know what I think of that. After all, this isn’t my first rodeo.

It looks like the weather will warm up again by Saturday to quit blanketing at night. I can’t wait! Because this cold weather and water hauling stuff is getting old and it’s only been a few days.

Unfortunately, just as we pulled in to get the chickens, my Landlord called and said under no circumstances could we have chickens. Then went on to say something about flies and blame my horses for them.

Um, I’m sorry! I keep my horses on Simplifly and if you walk down into the pasture, there isn’t a fly problem. But, up by the house, where the sun beats and is warm, are HOUSEflies. Now, if his secretary is too dumb to CLOSE the door to the office and has a fly problem because she LEAVES DOORS OPEN, then that is YOUR problem, not my fault or my horses. Moreover, you jackwagon, chickens EAT flies and would help control other pests since YOU are not, as YOU are supposed to, per our lease agreement.

When Bad Pants made it clear that if we were a problem, we’d be happy to move. And that as we are paying for things like STALLS that we aren’t getting, when our lease is up we’d be moving. In other words, we gave notice 6 months early. Boy oh boy did the LL backpedal then! But, the damage was done. I’d drove 2 hours away to get chickens he didn’t have a problem with 2 weeks ago. I’d drove 2 hours to get exactly the right chickens, the right breed mix, the right age. And I drove away without them. I don’t believe they’re still available. I’ve already suffered humiliation at his hands in front of the seller. (I wouldn’t sell to myself in that case! It’s not responsible). And, who’s to say he won’t change his mind again?

Chickens are perfectly legal inside city limits per both city and county ordinances. Our 5 hens were well under the city ordinance limit and we do not have nor plan to get a rooster. So, this is all just him.

Mind you, chickens were okay’d with him before we signed a lease. So were goats, horses, dogs, cats and a garden. But in his tirade at Bad Pants initially, two horses seemed too much for him, never mind that he had 3 here when he lived on the property. TWO horses, which is what stated in the ad for this place. Room for TWO horses. Oh, and he nixed goats within the first two weeks we were here, regardless of whether or not horses were here or not.

Needless to say, our minds are made up and we will be moving as soon as the lease is up. He is so lucky he talks to BP and not me.

I’m off to start the house-hunting process. Because, I’m just sure we won’t be getting the stalls or he’ll complain some more. I guess he’d rather this place be empty for MONTHS as it was before we moved here. Perhaps he really doesn’t want my money?

I have a busy weekend planned already. We’re going to be meeting some new family members of the feathered kind! That’s right! We’re getting hens!

So, we’ll be picking them up on Friday and building a coop in between, or shortly after getting them home on Friday. I’m so excited! These 3 ladies will be a very welcome addition to our little place and add in some much needed comic relief! For the time being, we plan on putting the coop out in the pasture with the horses. Next year, these ladies will help keep the fly and ant population in check.